Blog category - New acquisitions

It’s Dan’s Life.

30 January 2012 by Daniel McGlinchey. No comments
Collection,New acquisitions,News

As a duty curator in the Military Heraldry and Technology section, you discover some unexpected stories when items are donated to the Memorial. One such story was that of Sergeant Daniel Gallogly of the 6^th Field Company Engineers and the embroidered souvenir from Egypt that he purchased in 1916.

 The souvenir was found recently at the 5th Combat Engineer Regiment’s facilities but nothing was known about how it had come to be there. The souvenir was originally purple, representing the engineer’s colour patch but has faded significantly. The only clue to its history was embroidered on the souvenir, ‘6th Field Coy Eng, 1916, 2nd Division, Souvenir of Egypt, To Mimmie from Dan’. A search of the nominal roll of the 6th Field Company Engineers from the First World War revealed only one Daniel who had served in the unit. Confirmation was found in a letter written by Miss Mary ‘Mimmie’ McMahon in Daniel Gallogly’s service record.

 Gallogly was born in Darlington, Durham, England in 1883 and arrived in Brisbane on the ship SS Perthshire on 28 June 1909. At the start of the First World War he was living in Toowoomba, Queensland, working as a bricklaying contractor. He enlisted on 24 July 1915, aged thirty two. Four months later the 6th Field Company Engineers embarked at Sydney on board HMAT A40 Ceramic.

 The unit arrived in Egypt on 18 December and started training at Ferry Post. In the first three months of 1916 unit life consisted of training and surveying of railway lines and the Australian trench systems east of the Suez Canal. These were reinforced in case of any Turkish attack. Gallogly gained promotion to second corporal and in March Australian troops started to make their way to the Western Front in France.

 6th Field Company engineers arrived in Marseilles on 26 March 1916 and were training at Warne north of Paris by the end of the month. With a promotion to sergeant, Gallogly and his unit were introduced to trench life on the Western Front in the Fleurbaix sector in April. They surveyed the trenches and constructed everything from observation posts to detention enclosures. The next few months followed a similar pattern, with the unit moving to Messines sector in mid June. At the beginning of July they were moved south in preparation to Australia’s contribution to the Somme Offensive.

 As part of the Somme offensive of 1916 Australian troops of the 1st Division attacked the village of Pozieres, France between 23rd and 27th of July. The division took heavy casualties before being relieved by the 2nd Division. On 29 July, the division began its attack. Gallogly and his unit were consolidating positions taken by the 28th Battalion and constructing a medical dressing station when he was wounded. According to his service records he sustained multiple shrapnel and gunshot wounds to his face, back and right foot.

By the beginning of January 1917 Gallogly had recovered sufficiently from his wounds to attend a rifle course in Sidmouth, Devon, England. He attained a first class qualification and passed Lewis gun training with a ‘fair knowledge’ of the weapon. After spending the next seven months in a training battalion he was deemed unfit for front line duties and returned to Australia in August.

In Gallogly’s service record, Mary ‘Mimmie’ McMahon wrote in September 1917 to the Officer in Charge of the Base Records in Melbourne to know when she could expect him home. He was discharged by the end of November 1917. Mimmie and Daniel reunited and were married on the 16 January 1918 in Queensland. They had three children Vincent, Felix and Kathleen.

After the war Gallogly continued his building work and constructed buildings around Queensland, though this was not without problems as his industrial dispute with the United Operative Brick- layers’ Society of Queensland (Toowoomba branch) would suggest. Some of the buildings he built were the Harrison Home, Toowoomba, St James’s Catholic Church and school at Coorparoo in 1925, the Marist Brothers’ Monastery at Rosalie in the late 1920s. His tender for the erection of the Commonwealth Bank in Gympie was accepted in 1927.

 The Depression years affected Gallogly’s business and a newspaper article in the The Brisbane Courier suggests that he was declared bankrupt in 1931. The Second World War was not kind to the Gallogly family. Mary died in 1940 and the eldest son, Vincent, was killed while serving as a flight Sergeant in Bomber Command’s 103 Squadron RAF on 23 June 1942 over Germany.

The electoral roll of 1943 has the surviving family living in the Brisbane suburb of Albion, with Daniel listed as a public servant. He appears to have lived at this address until 1963. His date of death is unknown but he was buried in Nudgee cemetery, Brisbane, along with his wife and two of his children, Felix and his daughter Kathleen who died in 2008.

From the limited information provided by the donor of the souvenir, the Memorial through the use of digitised records, has discovered Daniel Gallogly’s story and recounted it. His narrative just one of the many that are uncovered by the Memorial during its work to remember the Australians who have served for this country.

The Australian Army and farming in the Northern Territory

17 November 2011 by Theresa Cronk. No comments
Collection,Collection Highlights,From the collection,New acquisitions

When we think of fertile faming lands, the Northern Territory is generally not the first place that springs to mind. Yet it was here, during the Second World War, that the Australian Army established the 1 and 2 Farm Company as part of the Australian Army Service Corps.

On 11 September 1940, approval was given by the Minster for Army to acquire land. An area of 107 acres was purchased at Adelaide River. The land was only partly cleared and the farm commenced with a small area of 2 ½ acres in 1940. The Adelaide River Farm Section became the 1 Australian Farm Company. A small garden at Wycliffe Well ushered in the 2 Australian Farm Company in January 1942. Towards the end of 1942, approval was given to establish a further 7 farms at Adelaide River, Hayes Creek, Katherine and Mataranka.

So, why did the Army decide to set up farms in the Northern Territory?

Firstly, these areas were known for deficiency diseases caused by inadequate vitamin intake and there were concerns for the health of troops. During May 1939, the Chief Medical Officer advised that up to 25% of personnel at the Northern Territory garrisons had been on sick parade on one day. Dengue fever was also rife. It was recommended that fresh fruit and vegetables could assist in reducing the occurrence of these diseases.

This revealed the second problem which was the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. At the time, the policy was to purchase food supplies from civilian contractors. In the Northern Territory, local production of fresh vegetables and fruit could not even sustain the local population. An influx of 40 000 troops and their dietary requirements needed to be met another way.

Thirdly, there were transport problems. Fresh vegetables forwarded from Adelaide had to endure a train journey of 3 or 4 days to Alice Springs. This was followed by 4 days or longer of transportation via trucks for distribution to areas around Darwin. During this time, 50% of the food stuffs were lost through the natural deterioration of food. The remaining 50% was edible but had lost most of its nutritional value and appeal.

 The priority was on the production of salad and leafy vegetables. This included tomatoes, beans, cabbages, lettuce, silver beet, cucumbers, beetroot, marrows and pumpkins. Root vegetables had a lower priority. One problem that also had to be overcome was the way in which to cook certain vegetables that not been seen before. It was only after the practice of boiling sweet potatoes ceased that this vegetable joined the ranks.

The first commanding officer was Captain Henderson who depended on convalescent patients from the nearby camp hospital for labour to plant vegetables. During this time, watering was conducted by channel irrigation from shower overflow and manually with a bucket brigade of volunteers.

The struggle for farm labour and equipment continued under the command of Lieutenant Nielson in March 1941. The tide began to turn with the arrival of Warrant Officer Campbell on 23 May 1941. Campbell obtained additional labour from 2/40 Infantry Battalion who detached platoons for a week or so to clear 30 acres. An irrigation scheme was also established and men from a nearby RAE unit supervised the construction of a 20 000 gallon iron tank.

By November 1941, the war establishment for a Farm Section AASC was approved and the personnel rose to 1 officer and 54 other ranks. Lieutenant Campbell was sent to a training camp in Brisbane to select suitable farmers and these men were sent to Wycliffe Well. Central Australia also had several unit gardens and one of these was located at Elliot. One soldier reported that they had to keep raising the height of the brush fence that they constructed around this garden. The problem was not with local wildlife, but people interested in seeing what was behind the fence. It was hoped that the higher the fence got, the less inclined people would be to climb over and have a look.

During 1944 and 1945, a 16 acre area at Katherine was developed as an experimental farm by army personnel with agriculture specialist qualifications. The work that they did helped establish what varieties of fruit and vegetables were likely to be successful. This work was largely based on recommendations from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research after a visit in September and October 1944. This also called for further training for Major Campbell, Captain Kjar and Lieutenant Scott-Young to study modern methods in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and the vegetable research station in Canberra.

It is unclear what happened to the farms after the end of the war. A report, written shortly after the end of the Second World War, indicates that there were discussions during 1944 and 1945 about the future of the army farms once the Northern Territory returned to civilian control.  Unit war diaries exist for 1 Australian Farming Company until the 6 August 1946 when Captain J C MacDonald moved to 7 Military District. By this time the posted strength for 1 Australian Farm Company had been reduced to 1 officer and 1 other rank.

References:

AWM52 10/26/2 August 1940 to July 1945. 1 Farm Company Summary of Farm Activity

AWM54 337/7/5 [Farms and Gardens - Farming Units:] Inspection report on 1 Australian Farm Coy, Australian Army Service Corps, Northern Territory by Lieutenant N A M Kjar, August 1943

AWM54 337/7/12 Part 1. [Farms and Gardens - Farming Units:] Data relating to Australian Army Service Corps, Farm Coy project and associated farm activities (1939-1945)

AWM54 351/1/3 [Food - General:] History of nutrition in Australian Army. Nutrition and food, requirements and catering. System of dieting. Rationing of hospital patients.

AWM254 [317] Army Farms AASC [Australian Army Service Corps report, photographs and newspaper clippings relating to 1 Australian Farm Company in the Northern Territory, 5 Australian Farm Company in Queensland, 3 Australian Farm Company in New Guinea, and 9 Australian Farm Company in New South Wales]

Curating from Afghanistan : Collecting in Action, February 2011

14 November 2011 by Stephanie Boyle. 2 Comments
Collection,From the collection,New acquisitions,News,Personal Stories

As senior curator of Film and Sound at the Memorial, I was greatly privileged in February this year to go with the ADF to the Australia’s area of Middle Eastern Operations.   Not only did I meet with and interview an amazing range of ADF members based in or around Al Minhad, Kandahar, Tarin Kot and Kabul, but I found myself in the rare position of being a female civilian, totally immersed in the ADF’s world.   I trained with ADF.  I wore body armour.  I travelled by armoured convoy and by Hercules aircraft.  

I had meals in the food halls where everybody else ate – lining up outside to sterilise my hands - and slept in the same accommodation, sharing bathroom and laundry facilities.   Every day brought a hectic round of new names, acronyms, places, and protocols to remember;  every day was a day of early starts and late nights.  Some days were marked by fun (joining in Camp Baker’s Trivia Night) or frustration (repeated cancellation of flights), whilst other days were memorable for their sadness  – the loss of an Australian sapper the day we left Tarin Kot; attending, with a host of coalition force members,  a US ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield.  

There was nothing about this trip for which the standard day at the office could have prepared me.    

As one of a three person team of Memorial curators for the Collecting in Action program,  I  spent three weeks on  deployment, travelling across the Middle Eastern Area of Operations (MEAO). In keeping with the Memorial ‘s tradition of documenting Australians’ experience at war,   I recorded  interviews with  a wide cross section of the ADF  - men and women of  different ranks, performing different duties , in a range of locations on base and in the field. Their stories were fascinating and inspiring, providing a unique insight into the life and times of Australia’s current serving military.  The team also sought items to include in the Memorial’s collection, from photographs and personal cloth patches, to gear too big to bring back right away, such as vehicles.

This video compiles a small selection from the many hours recorded during my deployment.  The Memorial thanks all those who contributed their time to this program.

The ADF do their utmost to prepare you for travelling to a war zone. Along with a large cohort of ADF members, our team undertook a training course at Randwick Barracks. Full days of lectures covered topics as diverse as vaccination, how to speak to the media, and how to conduct oneself in the event of capture.  A month later we departed with the scheduled ADF sustainment flight to Australia’s Al Minhad base, where we undertook  a further four days of lecturers and training. This included being taught how to assemble and fire a rifle, how to identify explosive devices, to call in a medivac (evacuation by air), how to apply a tourniquet, and how to dress an open wound.  My wound dressing skills being somewhat more theoretical than actual, I quietly hoped no one would have to depend on my training in an emergency!

During the training period I met many people who were , like me , about to go “in country”, but unlike me, would stay on for many months past the date of my return to the comforts of  “civvy” life. They would continue to work the long hours,  in  harsh environmental conditions, which  characterise  Middle Eastern and Central Asian deployments.  These and other  ”pattern of life” matters were discussed by many of  my interviewees.  

My interviewees included troopers, snipers, members of mentoring task groups, medical staff, unmanned aerial vehicle operators, artillery trainers, ground support crew, engineers, a Chaplin, a legal officer, a Federal policeman and, offering a different perspective, an Afghan translator.    In every case, I asked them how they came to enlist, what brought them to their current situation, what their jobs entailed, what life is like on an Australian base.  What did they enjoy about life in the Forces, what was not so good? If they had any downtime, how did they spend it? And what is it like to work with other nationalities?

 

 People willingly shared their experiences, personal insights and thoughts for the future.  A nurse spoke of the bravery of an Afghan child who’d sustained horrific facial injury in a tractor incident.  A Lieutenant Colonel, remembering his earlier work the UN, described having to repatriate the bodies of UN personnel killed in the war between Hezbollah and Israel.   A postal operator, missing her own young family, told how amongst the inmates of Camp Baker she was known as the Morale Princess, for distributing precious news and gifts from home.  An experienced Warrant Officer described the importance of keeping people busy when sad events at home or at war tested their morale.  One interviewee showed me his publically displayed artworks, which, while allowing him artistic outlet, enlivened both his spare time and the walls of the base , pleasing ADF and coalition personnel alike.    A sniper described how his team narrowly avoided being taken out by an insurgent with a rocket propelled grenade launcher. A female officer told me about the respect shown her as a trainer, working with Afghan military.  Another interviewee described meeting his Canadian fiancée at a fitness class on base.

Some interviewees felt they might not have enough to tell, or suggested that they “weren’t interesting enough”.      The fact is everyone has a story to tell. Not only are their individual experiences interesting in their own right, but every single interview contributes a part to the whole story of Australia’s history.   In the years to come, their descendants will come to the Memorial seeking out their stories, just as the grandchildren and great grandchildren of our First and Second World War veterans are now looking for the records and recordings of their ancestors, which form the Memorial’s collections.    

The Memorial seeks to build its collection of film, photo and oral history with material from current and recently serving ADF members.  Please contact the Film and Sound section if you would like to help.

A family’s love – Allan Henderson Hislop

14 October 2011 by Amanda Rebbeck. No comments
Collection,New acquisitions,Personal Stories

The Australian War Memorial’s Heraldry collection contains a number of commemorative badges and brooches which display a high level of beauty and craftsmanship combined with poignant individual stories. A recently donated brooch demonstrates these characteristics excellently.

This fifteen carat gold brooch was one of four privately made for the Hislop family in memory of their son and brother, Allan Henderson, who died of wounds on 18 October 1916 while a German prisoner of war.  

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Outside the Wire – Photographs from Afghanistan

01 August 2011 by Lauren Hewitt. No comments
New acquisitions, Afghanistan, Collection, Frontline troops, Landscape, Photographs

The AWM has recently acquired a significant set of photographs taken by photographer Gary Ramage in Afghanistan in 2010. Photographs such as these, of Australian Defence Force personnel on patrol ‘outside the wire’ in Afghanistan, are a first for the AWM. 

For visiting media, commissioned artists and photographers, the ADF generally permit only a few days on the ground, usually in the relative safety of established bases, and they are escorted at all times by an officer from Defence Public Affairs. These measures help protect the safety of the visiting journalist and our ADF troops, but limit access to the work the ADF is doing in the more remote areas of Uruzgan Province.

The newly formed Mentoring Team Delta (MT-D), as part of the ADF 1st Mentoring Task Force (MTF-1), began operations in the Deh Rawood Valley Region (otherwise known as the Deh Rawood Green Zone), approximately 60km west of Tarin Kowt in July 2010. Key to these operations was the mentoring of the Afghan National Army 4th Brigade, 205 Corps.

The Company was based at Patrol Base Razaq, its first priority being the movement of stores, equipment and supplies, and the establishment of security points. Ramage accompanied MT-D on several patrols in the Deh Rawood region focussing on the crucial task of clearing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from the area.

 

Previously a member of 6RAR, and a long serving military photographer with the ADF’s 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit, Ramage is afforded the freedom that many other photographers aren’t when in Afghanistan. As such, we are given a rare insight into the harsh and primitive living conditions experienced by Australian personnel at remote base locations.

Mentoring Team Delta made their way from Tarin Kowt, to Patrol Base Razaq via an overnight stop at Forward Operating Base Hadrian. You can see in this small series, the rough sleeping conditions endured by the unit; wedging themselves between the fortified HESCO wall and the solid bulk of their bushmaster patrol vehicles.

 

These photographs also show us the dangers that landscape and environment pose on Australian and Afghan troops. A single patrol route can cover ground that takes them from the sweeping, exposed landscape of the desert mountain ranges, to the dense, vegetation of the green zone in the lower valleys, each terrain posing differing threats and security risks. Patrols often pass through small villages and inhabited areas in the green zone, which is a rich agricultural area. The inherent vulnerability of the patrol group is emphasized by the backdrop of the towering mountain expanses.

 

 

Between June and August 2010, whilst Ramage was in Afghanistan, MTF-1 was to suffer the deaths of 6 of its members, several from IED explosions and one in the Battle of Derapet. This collection of images puts into perspective the conditions faced by ADF troops in Afghanistan every day and we get an insight into how troops on the ground cope with and commemorate the loss of their comrades.

Gary Ramage served 20 years with the Australian Army and was the chief photographer when he left. He is now Chief Photographer for News Limited at the National Press Gallery in Canberra. He travelled to Afghanistan independently.

This acquisition will greatly enhance the Memorial’s growing collection of material related to current conflicts. You can view the photographs online at: http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/?q=P09971*&conflict=all

These boots are made for walking… too!

23 June 2010 by Dianne Rutherford. 1 Comment
Collection,From the collection,New acquisitions, Heraldry, Second World War

 

Late last year the Memorial received a pair of Second World War escape and evasion (E&E) boots as part of a donation. We already held two pairs of 1943 Pattern E&E boots in the collection which were designed so that if an airman baled out or crash landed over enemy territory, he could cut away the suede upper with a concealed knife. This would turn his boots into ‘civilian’ style shoes to help him evade capture by the Germans. Neither pair held by the Memorial had their original knife (they often get separated from the boots), so I hoped this new pair might.

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Observations of a Film and Sound accessions officer…

22 June 2010 by Kassandra Hobbs. 2 Comments
From the collection,New acquisitions

The many donations to the Australian War Memorial’s National Collection come in all shapes and sizes as well as conditions. Many collections are treasured family objects that are passed on through generations which represent stories of family members who were involved in Australia’s military commitments. Others are rescued from disposal centres or found in op shops and deposited to the Memorial from strangers who have no knowledge of the person the collection relates to. As interesting as these stories are, I often notice the varied packaging in which these objects, whether treasured or found, arrive at the Memorial.

In 2005, SBS Radio hosted a program called ‘Migrant Memories- Australian at War’ which includes interviews with children about their experiences growing up in a theatre of war. The interviews were donated to the Memorial by SBS Radio in a presentation to the Director in 2005. The CD’s came in specially designed presentation cases in an ornate box, pictured below.

Another example from the Memorial’s Sound Collection is a set of recorded letters which Peter Winter sent to and from his family whilst serving in South Vietnam with 7RAR as a 2^nd Lieutenant from February 1970 to March 1971. These sound tape reels were sent to the Memorial in boxes ranging from original sound tape reel boxes to Aspirin boxes. Sometimes, the packaging of items tells a whole story of its own and shows what was available at the time of sending objects home to the family.

A recent acquisition for our Vietnam recorded letter collection is from Bryan O’Donnell who donated a sound reel recorded letter which was sent to Australia during his time of service in a purpose made sound reel postage case. Bryan served with 5RAR as a Private in the Infantry Corps and was stationed in South Vietnam from May 1966 to May 1967. He tells his parents about his duties and that he is taking many slides to send home.

Whilst the sound recordings of the National Collection at the Memorial are important in commemorating the sacrifice of Australians who have died in war as well as the experiences of those who returned home to us, the packaging the recordings arrive at the Memorial sometimes have an interesting story too, like these three examples. As we move into the digital world, the sound section is continually receiving digitally recorded material making the original boxes increasingly rare and interesting object to receive.

A collection of First World War fundraising badges

11 June 2010 by Pen Roberts. 2 Comments
Collection,Collection Highlights,From the collection,New acquisitions

 

 “.. give what you can, give a little of your happiness, a little of your well-being and a lot of your soul.”

These words are an English translation of a 1916 French poster for “Journée Nationale des Orphelins” (National Orphans’ Day).

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Prisoners of the Japanese: A radio broadcast

28 May 2010 by Jennifer Selby. 3 Comments
Collection,New acquisitions

Today a wreathlaying ceremony will be held at the Sandakan Memorial in the Australian War Memorial’s Sculpture Garden to remember the prisoners of the Sandakan Death Marches of 1945. It seems appropriate to highlight a new Sound Collection acquisition which relates to another group of prisoners of the Japanese.

The Sound Section received a donation of a lacquer disc containing a recording of a radio broadcast made in September 1945 by David Druitt Nathan of the 5th Signals Corp. Captain Nathan was based in Saigon, and he speaks about the prisoners of the Thai-Burma railway in this recording.

As you can see from the above image, the disc is in a very fragile state, and we were not sure that we would be able to recover the audio from it. The core of the disc is metal and it has been coated with a lacquer compound into which the grooves of the recording have been cut. Over time, the lacquer surface has degraded and cracked as the metal core expanded and contracted with fluctuations in air temperature.

Luckily the recording starts about two centimetres in from the edge of the disc which is where the worst degradation of the surface has occurred, meaning our audio engineers were able to play and digitally preserve the complete recording.

Listen to the digitised audio of S04844

Our innovative audio engineers used a paintbrush to gently hold down the arm of the record player to ensure the needle did not skip out of the grooves on the disc when it hit a crack in the surface.

Now that this disc has been digitally preserved, the original disc will be safely stored and won’t be subjected to being played again.

95th Anniversary of Gallipoli Campaign

23 April 2010 by Nicholas Schmidt. 1 Comment
ANZACS online,Collection,From the collection,New acquisitions,News,Personal Stories, Gallipoli, Private Records, Research Centre

This ANZAC Day marks the 95th anniversary of the start of the Gallipoli campaign, when tens of thousands of British, French and Dominion troops landed on the Turkish coast.

To acknowledge this anniversary, the Australian War Memorial’s Research Centre is displaying previously unseen original letters and diaries relating to the campaign. The Research Centre’s collection is a rich source of records that tells the story of Gallipoli in the words of those who experience it.

The display is titled Gallipoli Landings and reminds the visitor that few of those Australians who served on the peninsula landed in that initial wave of 1,500 men from the 3rd Infantry Brigade. Many experienced their own ‘landing’ in the hours, days and months that followed, while others, including nurses, served on the ships and islands off-shore. Despite great efforts over eight months and the loss of many lives, little progress was made. The ANZACs were evacuated in December 1915. By January 1916, the last British troops had been withdrawn from their positions at Cape Helles, and the campaign abandoned. 

The varied experiences of those who served at Gallipoli can be seen in the letters, diaries and private papers from the Memorial’s Private Records collection. The Memorial began collecting wartime letters and diaries during the 1920s and continues to collect the private records today.

 

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